//Review\\ Mani Jnx delves deep into heartbreak and healing in stunning debut ep ‘Love: Sin’

Love is not linear, nor is the concept of sin. Some accept the love they think they deserve, even when it's leading them into darkness, while others give their all, and it is pushed aside for something temporary. Love isn’t selfish, but people can be selfish with love. Love doesn’t yearn, but people yearn for love. 

British-Punjabi songwriter Mani Jnx, and her latest EP ‘Love: Sin’ explores exactly this. Across 4 personal and atmospherically stunning tracks, Mani delves into the depths of modern-day love from experiences of miscommunication and crossed wires, losing oneself and the painful heartbreak it leads to. 

The EP’s opening track, ‘Love:Sin’, is a short but sparkling introduction that captivates from the get-go and brilliantly summarises what's to come throughout the EP through its melodic spoken word lyricism, swirling ethereal guitars and passionate,shoegazey vocal tone.  'I can only help you If you let me/I can’t love you if you don’t let me in’  

In line with the sparkling guitars and powerful lyricism teased in ‘Love: Sin', Curiosity is raw in its power and all-consuming in its delivery, as it weaves a painful story of longing for someone who is miles away emotionally, which is common near the end of a relationship. This track brilliantly embodies its lyrical spirit in its musicality, building slowly from its introduction (similar to the build in Bat For Lashes' Marilyn or Mitski’s Francis Forever) into this thrashing, dreamy storm of heartbreak, crashing percussion and melancholic guitar surrounding every note with confidence. This track is one of the EP’s highlights, and it's easy to understand why. 

In contrast to the intensity of ‘Curiosity', the track that follows ‘Doing it Again’ provides an excellent balance, with warm-toned guitars and soulful vocals that soundtrack a nostalgic yet difficult part of love and form an excellent midpoint for the EP. The aftermath of love is usually reflective and questioning, but that can often do less than good, and this track is the perfect capturing of this exact sensation with its dreamlike, Dazey lyrical delivery and hip-hop style rhythm production from the track's first note to its last. 'I wonder if she’ll throw away the little bit of me again when she cleans her room this week...’I just wanted to be happy; do I deserve happy? ‘ When the chorus hits, this track’s heart may hit like a wrecking ball for anyone who’s ever been heartbroken; however, there’s also somewhat of a sense of hope, similar to the sudden recognition of the cycle you’re stuck in. This one is an excellent musical mirror into the aftermath of love. 

All good and great things come to an end, including this ep, and although goodbyes are difficult, Mani Jnx leaves listeners with a powerful piece of her soul in the ep’s finale of ‘Fix’. ‘Fix’ encapsulates all the tracks' themes in a similar style to the opening track ‘Love; , yet it's tonally different; brighter and livelier, even when its references some of its most painful moments of realisation, including how the former love in its musical story takes their partner in ‘like morphine’  struggling to let go, and not wanting to ‘hear you say you love me when you’re sober’. ‘Fix’ isn’t a bandage over its pain, but it's the first step of healing, and it's the perfect final chapter on an EP that feels more like a step into a heartbroken mind than a piece of music in the best way.  

An experience all should listen to if they’ve ever had their heart broken and tried to piece it back together again. 

‘Love: Sin’ by ManiJnx is out now. Click the artwork below to stream the EP.